Good Food
More on the Crock
By LARRY KANE
Slow cooking can trace its roots back to medieval times when the family would prepare a dinner in the morning and place the pot in the embers of the hearth, and return after toiling in the fields to a delicious and nutritious repast.
While that process was an efficient use of energy at that time (using the vestiges of a dying fire), in the modern world heating a Dutch oven, or covered pot, in a 225 F. oven for 8-10 hours is very energy-inefficient. The solution is, of course, a crockery-based slow-cooker. Very efficient indeed. Providing that you do not remove the lid (often) during cooking, a slow-cooker is the next-best thing to a pressure cooker for efficiency.
Here are a few “rules” that I would ascribe to basic slow-cooking principles:
- Avoid condensed soups. Use low-sodium broth, or even better, use homemade stocks you learned from my previous column (H&H Oct. ’07).
- Avoid canned vegetables or beans. They contain too much sodium, and are already cooked, which means that they will turn to mush after ten hours of cooking at low temperature.
- When beans are used as ingredients, always simmer dried beans for about one hour before adding to the pot. Beans need to be cooked a at high temperature to leech out toxins before being added to a slow-cooker.
- Vegetables need to be covered with fluid to be cooked properly. Bury them in the pot under the meat.
- Meats such as beef, pork and veal should be browned in a skillet for better flavor and appearance before being added to the crock.
- Very little fluid should be added to the pot since the lid allows for minimal evaporation. The moisture from the vegetables stays in the pot.
- Thickening slurries like cornstarch should be added in the last hour of cooking, since cornstarch breaks down over prolonged heating. Flour may be added at the beginning of the process without fear of it failing.
- Never remove the lid during low cooking, unless it is absolutely necessary for addition of ingredients, or stirring, as directed by the recipe.
- Assemble ingredients in the crockery the evening before cooking and chill. In the morning, just put the crock in the cooker and turn to “low”.
With these rules in place, consider a few unusual slow cooking ideas:
- Breakfast potato casseroles assembled before bedtime.
- Mac & Cheese using cooked pasta, cheddar, cream and egg.
- Desserts with chocolate, raspberries, egg and evaporated milk.
- Fruit chutneys of apples, raisins, vinegar and chiles.
- Applesauce with chopped fresh apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove and cider vinegar.
- Elaborate classic recipes like Boeuf a la Bourguignon or Veal Osso Bucco.
The slow cooker requires only about a half hour of assembly time in the evening, the rest of the effort is done while you are out in the field toiling for your feudal prince. You are rewarded when you open your door and are greeted by the wonderful aroma of your effort that is ready to eat on the spot.
Macaroni & Cheese
(This recipe is great, but takes only three hours in the pot, so it is not appropriate for “all-day” cooking.)
Ingredients:
2 cups dried elbow macaroni
1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 TB mustard
½ cup sour cream
1 cup milk
2 TB flour
½ cup mayonnaise
½ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper, ground
Cook macaroni in 3 quarts of salted water until al dente (firm). Drain and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine all the remaining ingredients, then add the cooked pasta and mix again. Dispense to the slow cooker set to “low.” Cook for three hours, stirring once per hour. Leftovers reheat easily in a microwave oven.
Read Larry Kane’s article in the February issue of Hills & Hamlets for more advice on slow cooking and his mouth-watering recipe Veal Osso Buco.
